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The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said it will commit an additional 900 billion yen or P432 billion in loans for Philippine railway projects.

“We project to commit about 1.3 trillion yen for railway project. In total, we have only committed 400 billion yen so far. So for the railway sector, we still have 900 billion yen to complete the entire ongoing railway project,” Kayo Kawabuchi, JICA senior representative, told reporters in a press briefing Thursday.

JICA is supporting five priority railway projects of the Duterte administration.

These are first tranche of the Metro Manila Subway Project, North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) Project (and the first tranche of the Extension Project), Metro Rail Transit Line 3 Rehabilitation Project, Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 Cavite Extension Project, and LRT Line 2 East Extension Project.

The Philippines wants to expand Metro Manila’s 79-kilometer railway lines to as much as 244 kilometers, including links to surrounding areas.

The Philippines’ railway projects, JICA added, could help address growing passenger demand and attract investments.

“JICA’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) in the railway sector aims to impact on wealth being distributed to other areas outside Metro Manila through investments and jobs,” Kawabuchi said.

“Once completed, these transport infrastructure projects will help realize the shared vision of JICA and the Philippines towards reduced traffic congestion, seamless mobility, and better quality of life of many Filipinos,” she added.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade thanked JICA for its support to the Duterte administration.

The railway projects form part of the transport interventions in the JICA 2014 study Roadmap for Transport Infrastructure Development for Metro Manila adopted by the Philippine government.

In 2017, the JICA follow-up survey on the roadmap said the Build Build Build program of the government could reduce the P3.5 billion transportation costs due to traffic. DMS